Memorial High School, Food Bank Team Up To Help Kids Learn, Give Back

The special education department at Memorial High School has teamed up with a local food bank to help kids learn and give back.

The program helps kids in the special education department learn life and job skills, but it also helps feed kids at home.

Like many classes at the end of the semester, Memorial students enjoyed their holiday luncheon Wednesday; but instead of buying the food, they made it, to celebrate much more than just the holidays.

“I had a garden at my house so what I learned here I could do at home," said student Lauren Kelly.

Kelly is one of the students learning from the Food Pantry Program.

This year, in teacher Karen Martin’s class, students collect food from the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma.

"They have to unload all the groceries, they have to sort the groceries by categories, they have to make sure and inventory it, what we have. They also have to learn expiration dates, all of the important calorie counts and what's healthy and what’s not healthy," Martin explained.

The food they bring in is then distributed to students in need - as a new way to replace the backpack program - to make sure students don't go hungry outside of school.

Martin said, "They run it like a grocery store."

"Knowing that the food that we get goes to a family that needs it," Kelly said.

The students learn to give back and help others while also learning important life skills.

Kelly said, "If they didn't have healthy foods, they wouldn't be able to get an education, to get a job, to make money, to donate back."

A class teaching life lessons and feeding hungry mouths is an accomplishment definitely worth celebrating.

You can learn more about the program here.